@psychoguy

Give it a rest.

Thanks for hijacking a thread that was meant to open discussion.

Your pessimistic attitude does nothing to add value to the profession.

@milesaway

I clearly hold no delusions about the state of American education. I clearly understand the role politics is playing on the system at the national, state and local levels and the power (or lack thereof) of a superintendent to build programs that are internationally minded and foster a wider understanding of the world at large when faced with the close-minded and paranoid mentalities of the masses. I understand how families are struggling to meet the basic needs of their children and I understand how that shows up in classrooms. I understand that educators are fleeing the sector faster than ever before. It’s sad to see America crumble in this way. I don’t wish stress on any education system of any country. We all know how vital quality education is. So rather than continue the thread about how “shocking” American schools are and how fast everyone wants to leave them, I asked my original question to ascertain if there are any small pockets of hope, anywhere in the US.

Here’s my question again, for reference:

Which American school systems have international educators found SUCCESS in, stateside? Which school systems move beyond a simple sentence on their website and genuinely value diversity and actively work to dismantle inequities to promote inclusion and belonging? Which school systems really embrace internationalism, promote multilingualism and look to the future as core values of their daily operations?

I would love to hear from any educators with this lived experience!

As to not wanting to engage with Psyguy, his “two cents” added zero value when I faced a difficult situation in China a few years back. He offered his “armchair expert” advice but then months later, backpedaled on his own advice and said “he knew” the alternative to be true from the beginning. So yes, I tire of his commentary on situations he has not directly lived and experienced. Click on my name and read the history if you’d like.

Additionally, as I said in my reply to him above, this has been a historical issue on this forum. See the following, going back to 2012:

Seriously psyguy, what gives?

https://www.internationalschoolsreview. ... f=1&t=2833

—-

Our ISR Forum is not about PsyGuy. *ISR is about all of us trying to help each other make informed choices.*

https://www.internationalschoolsreview. ... f=1&t=2183

Again, I will ask the following:

Which American school systems have international educators found success in, stateside? Which school systems move beyond a simple sentence on their website and genuinely value diversity and actively work to dismantle inequities to promote inclusion and belonging? Which school systems really embrace internationalism, promote multilingualism and look to the future as core values of their daily operations?

Psyguy, I find your presence on ISR to be irritating. I don't know if you think you're helpful but most of the time you are not. I don't even think you're employed in a school because you have a repulsive personality and if you act like this with adults, I can't imagine how you act with children. You have been trolling this site since at least 2010, when I first got into IE. Your attempt to write off my question and perspective as "woke treatise" says more about your mindset and negative attitude than anything else.

I offered hard numbers and concrete evidence of how dysfunctional learning environments manifest when we collectively ignore aspects of diversity, equity and inclusion. I offered the ISR community the insight I've gained through direct experience. If you didn't find my insight useful, that's okay. You literally don't have to respond to every post (!!!).

I didn't ask for your direct assessment of my cultural fluency, I didn't ask for you to ascertain if I've had my "head in a hole for the last couple decades" and I certainly didn't ask for your critique of my dissertation topic.

Psyguy, you can keep your negative opinions to yourself, because they're not helping educators serve children and families better.

Please have respect for the civility of this forum and refrain from responding further. Thanks.

Hi, everyone! Following the earlier thread of "public school vs int'l school culture shock", I wanted to get other educators' opinions on which American school districts/systems are the most internationally-minded, progressive and innovative? I think the American educational system is definitely at a cross-roads and what has served the country "well" (LOL) in the past has now become downright obsolete and ineffective, if not straight up harmful.

When we know better, we do better. As international educators, we have worked in multilingual, multicultural and multinational settings, but I see so often that our skillsets are undervalued in the American job market. Even though American schools are serving the most diverse student bodies than we've ever had before, we're still hiring White, monolingual educators that are local to wherever they grew up, that got their first job out of university in the same town where they grew up, with a limited perspective on how to appropriately serve students in their care. Some of those same teachers become leaders in the same district and the system plods along, lacking innovation and the ability to meet the diverse needs of all students.

So which school systems have international educators found success in, stateside? Which school systems move beyond a simple sentence on their website and genuinely value diversity and actively work to dismantle inequities to promote inclusion and belonging? Which school systems really embrace internationalism, promote multilingualism and look to the future as core values of their daily operations?

I can offer insight on two big systems in the Mid-Atlantic region. Having also served as a school building leader with NYC Dept of Ed (1 million students, 75k teachers), I was eager to get into a smaller system with more agility. I served as an Assistant Principal in both Fairfax County, VA (178k students, 13k teachers) and in Montgomery County, MD (160k students, 14k teachers). Between the two, Fairfax wins hands down. Their "Portrait of a Graduate" that emphasizes multilingualism, global citizenship and environmental stewardship is really well defined from preK - grade 12. Employees live out those values in everything they do. Every school is assigned a bilingual parent liaison, at least one if not two technology specialists, they have an entire technology "ecosystem" that vets technology and provides educators with a library with corresponding explanations of when to use each tool and they promote innovation across the district, but especially at their signature school, TJHSST. It's a difficult system to move up through the ranks, however, because they pride themselves on promoting leaders that grew up in Fairfax County and executive leaders don't seem to realize that the world is a big place with a lot of talent. I thought this was surprising, given how the transient the area is and the labor market is heavily concentrated with international diplomats, global corporate executives, military families, etc.

To my disappointment, Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland was even more close minded. They are also very old fashioned. They still have their 30k+ employees filling out bi-monthly paper time sheets and paper leave requests (think about the money they’re spending to have “payroll specialists” push that paper around and keep 7 years of paper records stored in a warehouse!). They evaluate teachers with a paper-based system that was created in 1999 and has not been updated since (the training manual refers to wildly outdated technology like overhead projectors!). On their system-wide school climate survey, more than 4,500 secondary students answered "yes" when asked if they've ever seen physical altercations on their campus due to arguments over race, cultural identity, country of origin or language.

In my capacity as Assistant Principal in a middle school building with 1,400 students, having to manage daily fist fights and other scary situations, I asked the Regional Superintendent what Central Office was doing to help support school building leaders with a systematic response, and they said, "So what, now what? We know all of our buildings have fist fights." They accepted it as completely normal. I resigned because I couldn't accept that as "normal". At least with FCPS, regional leadership is more involved both by visiting schools face to face on a frequent basis and intervening with difficult or dangerous situations. They move students of concern into alternative environments a lot faster through their hearings court. In contrast, MCPS had a school shooting at one of their high schools in spring 2022 and their executive leadership has not learned from past mistakes. MCPS is completely paralyzed by inefficient systems management. Finally, MCPS faces a significant lack of diverse leadership at the school levels and district levels that reflect the demographics of the county they're serving. Leaders are either White or Black, in a county that can benefit from Hispanic, bilingual leadership as they have been completely overwhelmed by migrants getting bussed up to Maryland (approximately 6,000 students arrived to Maryland, many of whom are SLIFE - students with limited or interrupted formal education). There's also a significant population of Ethiopian immigrants and Afghani refugees and not one district or building leader speaks Amharic or Pashto.

As part of my Doctoral research, I have been researching thousands of superintendents' professional profiles from all corners of the United States and it's really upsetting to see how few superintendents of color we have, leading American schools districts and systems. The politics around the superintendents who get to enjoy a long tenure versus those who get pushed out do not favor females or leaders of color. I say all of this as a multilingual, 3rd generation White woman who was the first in my family to earn a Masters degree.

Review has finally been published as of 8/29, but parts of it have been censored/omitted by moderators of this site.

So that's nice...

The majority of us are working in schools with limited HR departments/policies, in cities and countries without union protection or local labor law protection and we can't even rely on the accuracy of ISR school reviews.

Surely there's got to be a better way...

Trust your gut.

You do not have a union to protect you.

The school will not hire lawyers on your behalf to protect you.

This situation will not get better!

LEAVE!

@PsyGuy

This has less to do with my unhappiness and more to do with their poor management. The school's enrollment has been stagnant and/or declining for each of its 7 years of operation. They can't afford the teachers they hire. In fact, it's come to light that the turnover rate for the past 3 years has been over 50% for foreign/local hires combined. It appears this is actually the school's strategy: lure teachers in, then get them out so that they don't have to pay benefits that are promised at the end of the two year contract. They're doing it again for SY 18-19. Close to 60% of staff have had their contracts terminated, while "fresh meat" is coming in.

South China.

Proceed with extreme caution.

HI everyone! Me again...

So I did the grade 2 song and dance all this year without incident and was just told yesterday via email that my 2 year contract is being terminated this summer. It's now May and I'm left with few employment options for the fall.

I have no words....

@Old Republic

Above and beyond the standard research one conducts before moving overseas, I had direct knowledge of the organization as I had worked for their "sister" school for four years; a school that is consistently ranked very highly on this site. It was an organization I was happy to work for again. I actually didn't even apply for the role. I was working in administration Stateside, minding my own business, when a former colleague of mine from the sister school reached out to me with the school president, and offered me the administrative role. So their dishonesty hit me on a personal level, as well as professional level. :(

@PsyGuy and others who graciously responded to my request for advice:

My spouse did not want to leave, as we had already spent thousands of dollars to uproot our life to move for the position.

I have since been reimbursed for my tourist visa (and now have working visa), my initial flight here, and I was paid the original salary amount from the original contract.

I have yet to be reimbursed for the cost of the hotel and the real price of the health insurance compared to the contract was off by $3,000 so that was another surprise increase in costs that I'm now expected to bear, on top of losing an administrative bonus that they have not agreed to pay, per my original contract.

As the recruiting season for School Year 2018-19 begins, I sincerely hope that all prospective teachers are treated with professional courtesy and respect by school leaders and administrators, as they should recognize the enormous amount of energy, time, money and heart it takes to uproot one's life for an employment opportunity, sight unseen. What we do as international educators is incomparable to any other expat experience. Most times when a company is recruiting a foreign worker, they and their families are offered an opportunity to visit the company and city, and make sure it's a good fit for the worker and family. Professional teachers arrive to their posts with the credentials, experience and passion needed to produce fantastic results for children and their families. It's only fair that school leaders and administrators do the same. This means at the most basic level, that they should honor professional commitments and honor the terms of a contract that has been offered to a new hire and their family.

Prospective teachers, don't settle for unsatisfactory terms. Know your worth!! If you settle for unsatisfactory terms, you are lowering the industry standard for everyone teaching overseas.

Good luck everyone, and choose wisely this recruiting season!

A big thank you to everyone who offered advice.

It's not just the position that's different.

They're now axing an administrative bonus I was entitled to, lowering my salary and lowering my housing allowance.

Yet still refusing to refund my flight here, cost of hotel, cost of visa and pay for a flight out of here.

This nightmare has cost me thousands of dollars while they just sit back and let me absorb the entire cost of their dishonesty and mistakes.

Not sure what I can do to force them to reimburse me and pay for a flight out of here since they breached the contract.

Hi Psyguy,

Thank you for your reply. I really appreciate it!

I'm on a tourist visa. I'm in the apartment paid by the school.
The contract that I signed (and is not being honored) details OSH package benefits that they are now denying me, I.e. Contract says that school will put me up in a hotel while housing is secured, but they went ahead and finalized housing that was inhospitable and without ever consulting with me and now don't want to pay for five nights in a hotel.

I did my part. I showed up to perform the role I signed a contract for. That job that doesn't exist. If I'm not needed, so be it, but then I should be sent back on the next flight out.

I cannot legally stay here and while there might be ESOL work here, I'm at a different point in my career.

I spoke with the Consulate earlier. They didn't mention what you're describing, but I hope that what you're saying is true.

Thank you again for your reply and advice.

I was hired by a school in May via Skype for an administrative role. Upon arrival to the school, I've been told this position does not exist, but I can teach grade 2 instead. I don't have credentials to teach grade 2. I tried to negotiate to receive a professional allowance stipend for formal instruction/coursework on how to teach grade 2 and they refused. They're also refusing to reimburse me for the flights to get here, for the money I paid to obtain my visa, for nights spent in a hotel because the apartment they assigned me was inhospitable and for a return flight back to my home country. The US consulate will not get involved in contract disputes. What should I do? This is a nightmare come true.

Thanks to you both for sharing your perspective.

I didn't use the phrase "blatant violations of ethical education practices" to be colorful and affective, but rather to accurately describe said practice of students receiving fake grades for their own financial gain (scholarship) or emotional benefit.
I consider this to be the equivalent of an accountant embezzling funds from their employer for their own gain. Or an employee falsifying time sheets, coming into work late or leaving early, "stealing" company time for their own benefit.

These acts would be grounds for dismissal.

Instead of the student being denied the grade they didn't rightfully earn, the teacher in that situation was fired for whistleblowing.

I guess what I struggle with, is that we can't collectively focus on academic performance on one side of the spectrum and not the other. At least in the States, we have laws like IDEA to ensure students with learning needs receive the support required to be successful in school. If schools and staff don't comply, there are grounds for a lawsuit.

But then on the other hand, we're not going to have any laws or accountability for general population students, because it's "not a big deal" if a student performing on a fifth grade level receives an A for the fifth grade work he did in the 10th grade because "grades have been inflated everywhere". I would argue that a teacher is in fact "saving the world" by honestly and accurately reporting what a student is able to do. Alas, school politics make this completely impossible; I get that. Maybe we need to take the burden off the teacher to report grades. If someone's career and livelihood is at stake, then of course we're going to get teachers reporting fake grades to save themselves. Or again, we need a third . to oversee grade auditing and/or perform the actual assessment for learning themselves.

It doesn't help students or society in the long run, to receive "A"s for sub-standard work and then get out into the world and not have the skills or preparation to be successful. While you write, "it is rarely going to get back to the school community that your "A" students are not well prepared for college", maybe it should? I read a lot of articles about university professors complaining that their students aren't prepared for higher ed. "It's in a school's best interest to inflate grades to help students get into university" is such a depressing thing to read because it's so short-sighted in nature.

Imagine if we had these same standards for things like bridges? A bridge is "safe" using the parameters of bridges built in the 1900s to support the weight of horses and buggies and then the bridge collapses because it can't support the weight of cars and trucks in 2017. And oops, as it turns out, the bridge was actually unsafe. For that reason, there is a system and expectation that engineers and other third parties inspect the bridge on a periodic basis to ensure its safety. People definitely appreciate the efforts of an engineer hired to save people from plunging to their death. Can you imagine the outrage if it came to light that the engineer accepted a bribe to label the bridge "safe" when it really wasn't? Can you imagine the outrage if it came to light that the engineer was bribed by the toll booth company to label the bridge "safe" in order to get more cars across for more profit, without interrupting service for repairs? Would the the supervisor who exposed the bribe be fired or proclaimed a hero?

I look forward to the day when the education industry is held to a higher ethical standard.